Awesome video. Hopefully somebody will recognize these guys and turn them in!

I have to wonder if the police bothered dusting for prints around the ladder, etc, as the thieves weren't wearing gloves. Depending on how dirty/ greasy the surfaces are, of course, but they might get something off the handrails and grab irons.

I've learned something else about locomotive "dash" cameras I didn't already know. In addition to the fact that they work when a locomotive is trailing, and not just leading (see the awesome video from several years ago of a tornado knocking over a train in motion), they also apparently continue to record even if the engine consist has been sitting idle for an extended period of time, which I was under the impression was not the case. I guess the unit has to be totally shut down and the knife switch pulled to be safely inactive.

Good luck tracking them down. The thought occurs to me that if this technology had existed say, 60 years ago, that some of the more respected "collectors" in the hobby back then might have shown up on footage like this.

The thought occurs to me that if this technology had existed say, 60 years ago, that some of the more respected "collectors" in the hobby back then might have shown up on footage like this.

No. The "standard" technique with these collectors was either a working relationship with the railroad (and its scrapping lines), or a box of cigars or bottle of booze to the scrap yard foreman with a request for "THAT whistle/plate!" One of the largest collections of steam whistles was amassed by the head of the company that scrapped hundreds of Southern cotton compresses and sawmills, and I've seen photos of him personally climbing the stacks or chimneys to winch down the whistles in question. There was a well-known "dealer" of air horns who worked directly as a broker for a large "locomotive recycler" in the South as well.

Now, no doubt for every whistle/horn/plate acquired through legitimate or friendly means, another has been stolen at some point. Railroad employees themselves have supposedly been prosecuted for theft of plates and other ephemera, and I've even seen an odd bit or two of the East Broad Top that was probably not sold by the railroad in the 1950s show up at auction over the decades.

Ironically, I managed to goad an associate into "returning" a piece we "liberated" from PRR GG1 4873 in the scrap lines to its new owner once I had shown him it had been preserved in New Jersey, only to see the 4873 eventually scrapped in 1992!

The thought occurs to me that if this technology had existed say, 60 years ago, that some of the more respected "collectors" in the hobby back then might have shown up on footage like this.

No. The "standard" technique with these collectors was either a working relationship with the railroad (and its scrapping lines), or a box of cigars or bottle of booze to the scrap yard foreman with a request for "THAT whistle/plate!" One of the largest collections of steam whistles was amassed by the head of the company that scrapped hundreds of Southern cotton compresses and sawmills, and I've seen photos of him personally climbing the stacks or chimneys to winch down the whistles in question. There was a well-known "dealer" of air horns who worked directly as a broker for a large "locomotive recycler" in the South as well.

Now, no doubt for every whistle/horn/plate acquired through legitimate or friendly means, another has been stolen at some point. Railroad employees themselves have supposedly been prosecuted for theft of plates and other ephemera, and I've even seen an odd bit or two of the East Broad Top that was probably not sold by the railroad in the 1950s show up at auction over the decades.

Ironically, I managed to goad an associate into "returning" a piece we "liberated" from PRR GG1 4873 in the scrap lines to its new owner once I had shown him it had been preserved in New Jersey, only to see the 4873 eventually scrapped in 1992!

I have personal experience in knowing some "old head" collectors who got their start in the "Midnight Railway Surplus" business. No names will be compromised.

Well, I'm extremely happy that the two culprits were apprehended. I am not so happy that they are reported as "train enthusiasts". They have done more damage to those of us who also consider ourselves as enthusiasts, than just the theft of those horns.

Who is online

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum